"Hola, segues ahí? HOLA?!"
Muttering a curse under his breath, Mr. Gonzales hung up the phone and unceremoniously tossed it into the center console of the car before he resumed driving.
"W-well…?"
Glancing at his wife seated anxiously next to him, he slowly shook his head and sighed, "The policía still wouldn't tell me anything different. Before I lost the signal they were saying the same thing, that we should stay calm and keep driving to the location they gave us earlier."
Mrs. Esquivel impatiently demanded, "And where is that, exactly?"
He motioned towards the wrinkled paper nestled between them and huffed, "Let's just say it's a good thing I had this old road map in the glove compartment. Wherever they have us going, it's out in the middle of nowhere where the GPS is less than useless!" He took a fleeting look at the map and frowned, "No entiendo."
"What is it?"
"Even the map doesn't show that there's anything out here! Esto es muy extraño…"
Filled to overflowing with frustration, Mrs. Esquivel angrily wiped her eyes and cried, "I don't like this…it-it's almost as if the policía were trying to hide something from us!" A sudden horrified look stole over her strained features and she whispered, "Papa, d-do you think…something happened to Rafael?"
Blinking back his own helpless tears, Mr. Gonzales shakily replied, "N-now, Mama…w-we don't know that."
"¡Ah Dios mío! We never should have let my little niño go off alone like he did…!"
It seemed like it had been an endless eternity since the moment when everyone realized that Miko and Raf were missing. To their credit, both families had instantly stopped squabbling and focused on what was truly important: finding their lost children.
After searching fruitlessly for several hours, Raf's parents contacted the local authorities. Unfortunately, people went missing in Mexico every day and the policía simply did not have the available resources to conduct a proper investigation.
Fortunately news traveled swiftly in Puerto Peñasco. Word got out and after hearing what had happened, practically everyone in the tiny coastal city dropped what they were doing and rallied to help. Family, friends, neighbors and total strangers all banded together and formed an enormous search party.
Sadly, it was all for naught. Even after searching for the remainder of the day and most of the night, no one had managed to turn up a single trace of the kids' whereabouts. It was almost as if Raf and Miko had disappeared off the face of the Earth.
Just as the Nakadais and the Gonzales-Esquivels were on the verge of becoming hysterical, they received an unexpected call from the authorities. The policía assured them that their children had been found, but for some reason they seemed oddly reluctant to disclose any additional information. Before the issue could be pressed, the parents were then given a series of directions to follow and requested to drive to an undisclosed location. Within moments they gathered in the family car and were on their way.
During the entire exhaustive search for Miko and Raf, none of the parents had bothered to stop for food or rest. Still dressed in the same semi-formal clothing from the disastrous engagement party, they all now appeared a bit on the disheveled side.
Mr. Gonzales stifled a yawn and wiped the sleep from his tired eyes when a sudden and unexpected brilliance in the distance caused him to squint. He blinked rapidly as the sun peeked over the hilly horizon, spilling its radiance everywhere and chasing away the last remaining vestiges of night.
The dawn of a new day was breaking.
Reflexively turning his head away from the bright light, he happened to glance momentarily at the rear view mirror as it showed the reflection of Mr. and Mrs. Nakadai settled in the back seat.
They were both eerily silent. Without making a sound, Miko's mother did not attempt to hide how worried she was for her only daughter as great tears streamed relentlessly down her cheeks. Miko's father merely sat stone-faced next to his wife, his stern expression betraying absolutely no emotion.
Mr. Gonzales' frayed nerves were worn well past the breaking point. Seeing Miko's father appear as though he wasn't affected in the least by all that had happened quickly stoked the embers of their earlier heated quarrel.
"Señor Nakadai, how can you just sit there and behave as if nothing were wrong? Miko has been missing since yesterday morning!"
Mr. Nakadai said nothing in reply and continued to sit in silence.
Fuming, Mr. Gonzales continued, "Doesn't it matter to you whether or not she is all right?"
Mrs. Esquivel leaned over and whispered, "Papa, m-maybe you shouldn't - !"
"No! No, he needs to hear this!" Mr. Gonzales violently shook his head, completely out of anything remotely resembling patience. "Esto está mal, Señor! She is your daughter, and for you to act like you don't even care is deshonroso! It shames both you and your wife!"
"PAPA!" Although she agreed with what her husband had said, Mrs. Esquivel was still shocked at the unforgiving harshness of his words.
Mr. Nakadai's eye twitched as he bridled under the insult. He stared hard at Mr. Gonzales, taking a deep breath before finally answering in a deceptively calm tone.
"Gonzales-san, forgive me if I appear to be cold or unemotional. I am Nihongo - Japanese - and it would not be proper for me to behave otherwise. This…this is our way. However, please let me assure you that the only thing that matters to my wife and I is the safe return of our daughter."
Embarrassed by what he had said, Mr. Gonzales flushed slightly. He sighed tiredly and began, "Señor…look, maybe we - !"
Mr. Nakadai, equally as exhausted, inadvertently allowed his icy façade to slip and muttered, "Perhaps if you and your wife had not been so preoccupied with taking control of the wedding, then Miko would not have run away in the first place."
Mr. Gonzales growled, "Wha - ? 'Control the wedding?!' Are you loco?! As I recall, you were doing the exact same thing, MEAPILAS!"
Some insults, no matter what the language, are understood by all.
Any pretense of proper politeness abruptly flew out the proverbial window as Miko's father lost his composure and bellowed, "BAKA! YURUSANAI!"
Infuriated, Raf's father roared back, "¡NO ENTIENDO LO QUE DICES!"
Once again the shouting match quickly spiraled out of control. Mr. Gonzales' threadbare nerve finally snapped and all common sense swiftly exited through the same aforementioned window as he let go of the driver's wheel and twisted around in his seat to face his adversary.
"¡TE DOY UNA HOSTIA QUE TE VISTO DE TORERO!"
Itching for a fight, Mr. Nakadai eagerly leaned forward to meet Mr. Gonzales head-on.
"KONO BUSU YARŌ! KAKATTE KOI…!"
Mrs. Esquivel reflexively lunged over and took hold of the abandoned wheel just as the car began to swerve wildly. Struggling to avoid crashing, she cried, "¡IDIOTA, MIRA EL CAMINO!"
Her desperate admonition fell on deaf ears, as both men actually began to grapple.
Unseen by anyone, a delicate hand suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It reached out, stretching past the feuding fathers before firmly grasping the car's emergency brake and pulling back hard.
The rear brakes instantly locked down, screeching deafeningly as the tires fought to cling to the loose gravel of the dilapidated road. Unable to find any traction, the car began to fishtail and skidded violently from side to side.
Startled screams and shouts joined in with the discordant cacophony of the brakes squealing as the Nakadais and the Gonzales-Esquivels were jostled helplessly about. After several panic-filled seconds a tiny stretch of good road miraculously materialized before them and the poor, overworked wheels finally found something they could work with. They held fast and didn't let go. Everyone in the car abruptly felt themselves lurch forward from the powerful inertia. After what seemed like forever, the car eased to a crawl and eventually stopped.
As the dust slowly cleared the only audible sound that could be heard was that of everyone breathing shakily. Long moments crept by, the awful enormity of what had almost just happened slowly beginning to become painfully apparent. A horrified hush fell upon the party as comprehension dawned and every single second of the harrowing experience became crystal clear.
With this newfound eidetic awareness also came the almost forgotten mental image of the hand that had pulled the emergency brake, the same hand that had very likely saved all their lives. All eyes suddenly looked down to see the tiny hand, trembling slightly as it still held the brake in a vice-like grip. Moving past the petite wrist and up the slender forearm, everyone soon came face to face with the owner of the hand.
Somehow it was still a surprise to see that the hand belonged to Mrs. Nakadai.
Almost beyond words, Mr. Nakadai panted, "A-Anata…?"
Explosively she shrieked, "URUSEEYO! DAMARE! DAMARE, DAMARE, DAMAREEEEE!"
Mr. Nakadai merely nodded in acquiescence to his wife's words even as they were quickly drowned by a flood of tears.
Mr. Gonzales started to speak but Mrs. Esquivel immediately cut him off.
"Silencio."
"But - !"
"Not another word. You will only succeed in helping make things worse than they already are."
Mr. Gonzales hung his head low, knowing his wife was right.
As his wife continued to sob without making a sound, Mr. Nakadai found himself not knowing what to do or say to comfort her. All he knew was that she didn't deserve any of this. Feeling his eyes burn with guilt and shame, he roughly rubbed at them with the back of his hand. He happened to glance up for just a moment and happened to meet the equally mortified gaze of Mr. Gonzales. Overcome with humiliation, both men looked away just as quickly.
Raf and Miko's fathers reluctantly came to the shared sobering realization that they were equally at fault for dishonoring their families. In the end it didn't matter who had started this fight, or who had done or said what. What mattered now was to put an end to the bad blood between them and fix this.
Once again their eyes met. A strange silent symbiosis occurred and without uttering a word, both Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Nakadai knew precisely what the other was thinking. Tiny smiles simultaneously appeared on their faces, the absolute absurdity of their senseless feud glaringly obvious. Time seemed to stand still as they slowly began to come to a hesitant understanding, giving birth to a newfound respect for one another.
"Are wa nan desuka…?"
Everyone in the car couldn't help but jump in surprise as Mrs. Nakadai spoke suddenly, her subtle whisper shattering the silence. They followed her questioning gaze to see what she had seen.
In the distance up ahead the parents could make out the presence of no fewer than half a dozen vehicles blocking the road. Rapid strobes of flashing red and blue created a merciless lightshow that reflected against the gleaming black surfaces of the heavily armored vehicles, illuminating the stark emblazoned words POLICÍA FEDERAL.
Mrs. Esquivel whispered worriedly, "The Federales…"
Her husband was equally anxious as he murmured, "A policía roadblock? Out here in the middle of nowhere…?" Mustering the courage Mr. Gonzales slowly drove closer to the patrol vehicles obstructing their path. When only a few yards separated them he came to a stop.
Without warning the vehicles' doors swung open and before the parents knew what was happening, the policía surged forth and surrounded them.
It was difficult to be certain but it looked like there were at least twenty officers, all uniformed in dark combat fatigues and all heavily armed. They obviously meant serious business.
One particularly intimidating officer stepped next to the driver's window and rapped firmly against the glass. Mr. Gonzales nodded nervously as he rolled down the window.
Brandishing a FN FAL assault rifle, the officer brusquely demanded, "¿Son ustedes los padres de Rafael Jorge Gonzales Esquivel y Miko Nakadai?"
"Uhh, sí?"
The officer glared menacingly for another moment and then pulled out several photographs, studying them all intently. Mr. Gonzales raised a confused eyebrow as he noticed that the photos were images of everyone seated in the family car. Before he could ask any questions, the officer then produced a radio and gruffly spoke into it.
"¡Los padres están aquí!"
Mr. Gonzales heard a strangely familiar voice answer, "Déjalos pasar y continúen montando guardia. Ya casi estoy allí."
The officer immediately turned to his fellow policía and yelled, "¡Son ellas! Déjalos pasar!"
As they quickly moved the patrol vehicles out of the way, the officer looked back at Raf's father one last time and motioned him through the blockade.
Mr. Gonzales wasted no time and drove.
Minutes passed, the already unbearable tension steadily continuing to mount. Somewhere in the foreboding wilderness plaintive howls began to be heard, their chilling song causing Mrs. Esquivel to shiver and start crying once more. Mr. Gonzales soothingly murmured, "Be brave, mi amor, be brave…for Rafael." He glanced at the rear view mirror, watching Mr. Nakadai cast aside proper Japanese decorum as he reached out and held his wife's hand.
The overgrowth of towering cacti and thorn-scrub surrounding them grew more and more dense, forcing Mr. Gonzales to brake and reduce speed. Slowed to a maddening crawl, the car crept past a thorny tree that Raf's father happened to recognize as the desert ironwood.
Finally they could go no further.
When the car stopped there was a sudden loud burst of static from the forgotten GPS as it noisily announced its return to electronic life. It was only a temporary rebirth, but before the signal was lost again it managed to sputter, "Han llegado a su destíno."
"We're here."
"B-but where is here?!"
Mr. Gonzales consulted his trusty old map and replied, "Somewhere in the Sonoran Desert."
Exasperated, Mrs. Esquivel replied, "I know that! What I want to know is what is this particular place, and why did the policía want us here?"
The Nakadais and the Gonzales-Esquivels slowly emerged from the family car and nervously stared in mute wonder at the unexpected sight that lay ahead. Towering before them were the ruins of an ancient structure.
Appearing to be centuries old, it was an impressively large building with sundried adobe walls reinforced by a crumbling outer shell of baked brick and mortar. What remained of the roof appeared to be covered with fired clay tiles, supported by a framework of pine timber. Miraculously the wooden beams still held, preventing the roof from collapse. Mostly obscured from view, the beginnings of a large open courtyard on the far side of the building could just barely be seen.
Although weather-worn and sandblasted from the harsh desert winds, the sturdy structure continued to stand strong and proud.
"Wh-what is this, some kind of old forgotten fort?"
Mr. Gonzales gently corrected his wife, murmuring, "It's not a fort, it's a church mission. Extraño…it almost reminds me a little of Nuestra Señora del Pilar y Santiago in Cocóspara, one of the most magnificent church ruins in Sonora."
His mind suddenly began to race, all at once remembering Rafael's intense fascination with Padre Eusebio Kino and the many missions he had established throughout the Sonoran Desert.
Surely it couldn't be…!
Just then the unmistakable sound of a helicopter could be heard in the distance, rapidly getting louder as it approached. Finally a Bell 212 Huey helicopter appeared overhead. It hovered for a moment before finally touching down nearby.
As the helicopter powered down, its pilot opened the cockpit door and disembarked. Miko and Raf's parents all gulped apprehensively when the large man turned towards them and began to stride purposefully in their direction.
The pilot stood before the nervous quartet before removing his flight helmet.
Mrs. Esquivel immediately recoiled in shocked alarm and frantically began crossing herself.
"AAAAA! YOU!"
Agent William Fowler smiled warmly and replied, "Me."